Are you a clothing boutique or a startup owner looking to kick-start your very own customized clothing line? Then the first thing you need to learn is – how to create a tech pack.
One of the first things you need to get started is a clothing tech pack. This ensures that your needs are communicated properly and that your designs come out exactly the way you envisioned.
We get it. The “technical” side of fashion can seem daunting. You are probably wondering how to begin and just what to do. Don’t worry, we’ve got you!
Here’s your ultimate guide to a fashion tech pack. Learn what it is and how to create one that will put your new clothing line one step closer to success!
What is a Clothing Tech Pack?
A technical package (commonly known as a tech pack) is a specification sheet made by designers of clothing brands that contains detailed technical information about a garment’s design. It communicates your design needs to the manufacturers as a blueprint.
A complete tech pack includes detailed sketches of the design, measurements, materials, colors, construction information, artwork placement, and packing and labeling instructions.
Here are the reasons why a tech pack is absolutely crucial when creating any fashion product:
- Easily communicates the exact clothing design to manufacturer
- Helps you get an accurate price quotation
- Gives you a complete picture for measurement and fabrics, allowing a better understanding of the end product
What makes for a clothing tech pack?
Before we dive into our ultimate guide on “How to make a tech pack”, there are a few quick things that makes for a clothing tech pack.
- Product summary – The product summary acts as your cover page and should include details that summarize your product briefly. It gives information including logo & brand name, article name/code, description, product type, gender, season, sizes, colors, vendor details, and a flat sketch.
- Technical sketches – Also known as technical flats or fashion flats, these flat sketches illustrate how the garment would look from all sides – front, back, sideways, and even inside out. Their purpose is to let the manufacturer visualize how the product should look when placed flat against a table.
- Measurement specs – The measurements specification sheet details the measurements of every single component in the garment across all sizes. Include details such as shoulder drop, chest, neck opening, body length, waist, hips, sleeve length, collar length, and armhole among others.
- Bill of Materials (BOM) – The BOM sheet details all the raw materials that go into the making and shipping of your product, including the nitty gritty such as zippers, lace, straps, buttons, and labels. Add a brief description of each raw material, the quantity and size needed, and its placement on the garment.
- Construction details – This section of the tech pack gives instructions on how to put each part of the garment together, including details such as what type of stitches you need and placements of pockets, lace, and other fasteners and decorations.
- Colorways – Colorways is the part of the tech sheet that showcases different color options you’d want the garment in. The colors might look slightly faded when looked up from different devices, so ensure that you add descriptions about your desired shades or tones.
- Labeling and packaging instructions – This section outlines how the vendor should handle the labeling and packaging of your product. As for the label, add all the information on how to design it, where to place it, and whether you need tags.
How to make a clothing tech Pack?
Now that you know the nitty-gritty of creating a fashion tech pack, its time to create one yourself.
Step 1: Sign up on Techpacker
Start by signing up on Techpacker and selecting the company information, you can choose to start with a 7-days free trial.
Next select the option “personal tech packs” and select the option – ADD TECHPACK. Alternatively, you can also start with pre-made tech pack templates. Let’s start with a t-shirt tech pack template to begin with.
Step 2: Select a cover image and choose sizing
Once you click on the settings of your new tech pack, you will be presented with a box. Here, you can give your tech pack a name and add a short description of your product.
Once that is done, add the cover image which is just an image containing the technical flats of your garment (both front and back).
Next, click on “sizes” and select a size-range from among the three formats, a sample size, and the unit of measurement you prefer.
Step 3: Add color variations
Next up is selecting the color combinations and a color for the garment sample. There are some default options already available, but you can add in your own custom choices, too.
Step 4: Enter keywords and time tracking
In this section, you can add some keywords that describe your garment. This makes it easy for you to search this particular product and will come in handy when you have multiple tech packs.
The next tab lets you enter the start date and end date for each of your stages – design, sampling, and production. This is to help you track the progress easier.
With the completion of this step, you have successfully created the outline of your tech pack. Now you are ready to add all the details!
Step 5: Select technical sketch details
Open the tech pack you created and you will be presented with a screen like this with various cards – namely sketches, materials, and measurements.
Select the first image (which would be the technical flat of the front side of your garment). To add annotations, go to the respective tab and click and drag on the part of the image you want to annotate. You can enter the comments on the right side.
You can use the other tabs to add keywords, comments, and status updates. These help when you are sharing the tech pack with other team members and collaborating with them.
Repeat the same process for all the other sketches.
Step 6: Select the materials
Next, we have the Bill of Materials (BOM) section. Here is a very rough sample of what it looks like.
You can customize it according to your needs by adding materials and other columns and filling up all the details. Click on each row to upload an image of the material, add keywords, and set statuses.
Step 7: Add the measurements
Finally, we have the measurement section which looks something like this.
Just like the previous section, you can customize it however you would like. You can visit each row separately and enter all the details, including descriptions for each measurement, annotations, keywords, and status.
At the very bottom of the page, you also have an “add new section” button which allows you to add customized tables. For example: a cost sheet.
And that’s it! Your professional factory-ready tech pack is complete! You can view it in PDF format and download it.
Note – Include a “size fit” column in your measurements spec sheet to note down the actual measurements of the proto sample.
What are the others ways to create a tech pack?
So that was our guide on how to make a tech pack. You can easily create a fashion tech pack using these options, but you can always get help from other platforms, or even reach out to us. Here’s a quick sum-up for all the ways you can make a fashion tech pack
- Online Tech Pack tools – If you are a beginner, you can use an online tool like Techpacker that you can use for creating a tech pack in just a few clicks. These tools also allow you to streamline your workflow by seamlessly integrating other applications such as Google Sheets or Adobe Illustrator with your tech packs.
- Free Tech Pack templates – Several websites provide free tech pack templates to make your job a lot easier. All you need to do is download the template, fill in all the details, and upload your sketches.
- Tech Pack services – Start with outsourcing platforms like Fiverr that let you connect with fashion professionals for creating a clothing tech pack at a minimal price. You can use Google search operators and search for something like “Fiver [YOUR NICHE] tech pack.” Be sure to add your niche (clothing, for instance).
